April 2019 - The Wabi-Sabi Writer

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

National Poetry Writing Month - The End
April 30, 20190 Comments


And so this time has come to its end... 30 poems in 30 days

Inspiration blooms
Springs forth 
fervent
free
wild words wander
with reckless abandon
across the ether
sprouting poems in the field




Thank you for joining me 
on my poetic exploration of  all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: 

nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect


(Feedback is welcome, kindness is appreciated)

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Inked
April 30, 20191 Comments



and even in the eleventh hour
Words demand
 their price






NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 30

Based on the prompt to write a minimalist poem
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Monday, April 29, 2019

A Sister's Grief
April 29, 20191 Comments


There are moments
in my day

when I hear
 the wild parrots
laughter
echos
above the wires

and remember
our hours
laughing
over the wire

a whole big book of nothing
doubling 
me
over
long after 
the call

that I can still see 
your five year old face
nestled in a crown of curls
smiling at me

I see that same smile
now in the face
of your son

and hear your laughter 
in my own







NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 29

Based on the prompt to write a poem that meditates, from a position of tranquility on an emotion one has felt powerfully.
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Sunday, April 28, 2019

le poème est quoi
April 28, 20191 Comments



teenage
angst 
inked
in secret
spiralbound
hours

a rhyme
or reason
compass
to find
myself
in the black
oblivion


an
ever
expanding
perspective

the
door
to the common
humanity







NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 28

Based on the prompt to write a poem about poetry

*le poème est quoi - the poem is what?
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Saturday, April 27, 2019

Karl's Verse
April 27, 20191 Comments



So it is with me
as with that Muze
whose hand does often write
a wind whispered plea
behind mist cloaked views
So tender is the night


NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 27






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Friday, April 26, 2019

Slack Tide
April 26, 20191 Comments


I have settled
in the city
by the bay

where I can see water
out my windows
in the distance

Close enough
to keep 
a tenuous
unmoving
balance

between
beauty
and
cost

yet the tidal surge
pulls me
close
and
crave
the symphony
of
crashing waves
over
the crackling wires
the scent
of
sand and salt 
of
briney breeze
over
the redolence
of
refuse and vagrance
over
ambition
and
exhaust


NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 26
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Thursday, April 25, 2019

Sunday Anchor
April 25, 20190 Comments

Women
enter
here
from the streets

they carry
designer label
struggles
and the sweat stains
 of the day

a pile of shoes
keeps sentinel
at the door

angelica 
steeps
as
the drum
beats

its beat
an invitation
to journey

within
the women 
each
path
appears

and
for a short while


drop 
anchor
in the sea
of
equanimity



NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 25
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Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Soulmate
April 24, 20190 Comments



My love
I hope
you never
grow tired 
of me

my relentless
demands

echo in the chambers

The walls
thin enough
to be compliant

and yet
strong enough
to keep our secrets

I listen
for your
reassurance
in the black hours
when
all 
I hear
is the dead
silence

Praying
my love 
to feel
you 
again



NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 24
Based on the prompt to write a poem  write a poem that, is inspired by a reference book
Exercise Physiology - Chapter 14 - The Heart
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Tuesday, April 23, 2019

My Pajamas
April 23, 2019 2 Comments



You know  
The question all adults
want to know
but never do

They stare at my gangly limbs
restless twitching
as I curl up
wherever
the sun
shines

I answer  - a ballerina
as I touch my head
with my toes

I answer -  a doctor
as my curious notions
roll on the floor
like spilled sugar pills

then I answer a nun
oh the look 
on my 
crewcut
cussing
mother

she lit another
cigarette
took a deep drag
her mind flaming
 to the drunken
catholic priest
and
the curse he proclaimed

Silenced
She exhaled
smoke and apprehension
swirling around 
my narrow
face

But my most honest
answer
one I give to this day
is my very first

My father perched 
on the wooden front porch
drinking a schlitz
and watching me

watching me 
swirl bright colored soaps
in the blue plastic pool
one late summer afternoon
on Bridge Street

My mother
watching us
from behind the screen door

So what do you want to be when you grow up?

This was as clear as the blue sky
as easy as the lilac-scented breeze

with all my four-year-old resolve 
I proclaim

"A Cat"

It has been decades and I have yet to change
my answer




NaPoWriMo 2019 Day 23
Based on the prompt to write a poem about an animal
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Monday, April 22, 2019

Alcohol Ink
April 22, 20191 Comments



I have spent my life
with words

 spiral bound
and
inked

 sophistry
story
and
poetic
justice

ink
mixed
with
alcohol
flows
out
of
the halo
across the page
it bleeds
over edges
pools in places
you do not want
so you add
more
alcohol
blow
hot
air
across the surface
urging 
an image
to form

It is best to let go
of attachment
the beauty is in 
the abstraction 
the familarity
the unexpected
enough to make you dizzy

Ink 
stains

the table
my fingers
and 
fringe

life

no matter
how

always
leaves
its mark






Based on the prompt to write a poem that engages with another art form
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Sunday, April 21, 2019

R I C E
April 21, 20191 Comments


Remembering
the year has changed
over
with
every 
page

the long march
through another
turn around
the
sun

my soul's
shoes
have
cushion
but are not
broken in

I stock up
on bandages
as blisters
bubble  and burst

wrap support
systems
to
immobilize
the parts
threatening
to snap

salves
of
distraction
to
ease

constant
abraision
of 
grief
against
fraying 
silken
heart
strings

This road before me
is too vast
to comprehend the effort
needed

so instead

a single step forward
a toe touch to the waters
a breath

and then another

whether I 
wander
or 
fall

I hear

the gentle call

to 
come 
back
home

to the moment

keep to the path

the way 
towards
healing
is
through



Rest

Inspire

Compassion

Elevate




NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 20
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Saturday, April 20, 2019

Eavesdropping
April 20, 20191 Comments



I like to harvest words
while sitting alone
at a cafe

I sip wine or tea
and gather the notions 
in notebooks
I keep 
in my pocketbook

oh if they only knew...

"I like food.  Food is Good" (and evidently so is the wine) as the woman spins her fork in the chicken like it was spaghetti

"Omg - huge picture of her placenta"

"I saw the nipple - it was the scariest thing I saw in my life
all black, extended and dangling"

"We took hikes 
before your stroke..."

"the pig has to get paid"

an old woman
looks sad
but that is her face

she moves her mouth
in silent
conversation

I drain my glass
and turn the page





Based on the prompt write a poem that “talks.”
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Friday, April 19, 2019

Nerissa
April 19, 20190 Comments


The viridian waters  
surround me
in a saline
embrace

I find
my breath
above each wave

I roll
side to side
toward an infinite
edge

I dive
into the cerulean
deep

blind
and trusting
am
one
with
the
sea


NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 19

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Thursday, April 18, 2019

Chimera
April 18, 20190 Comments



This is the Zachistka
the cleansing time
the time of pain
of rememberance

I returned from the desert
relieved to have 
a moment
to spare
this tightly coiled notion
but a forked 
tongue
lie
waiting to strike

I drag my fingers
over where 
I left bruises
greening blue
against the pale day

I swirl sand
on the desert floor
like a shattered 
hourglass
spilling time


This is the cleansing
Wishing the wind
would whip
it all
away




NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 18
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Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Love Shadow
April 17, 20191 Comments



Love is a shadow
I chase across
the sky
I follow
under bridges
and reach
towards
as the sun sets
as the moon rises

This shadow 
follows me

tries to touch
me
tries to seep
inside 
me

yet 
I run
oh so fast
away

but
what
if

I am still

my shadow
rests 
beside
me

letting
love
bathe
me
from
inside





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Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Tasting Menu
April 16, 20191 Comments


A childhood palette

fizzing fanta soda - backyard BBQs and laundromat in the square
fingers and lips sticky
 with pink cotton candy
from Whalom park

a copper penny 
popped in quick
 like a bleeding finger 

chaulky chocolate 
squares swallowed
to follow it through

blue otter pops
sucked out plastic tubes
thick whole milk 
sucked through a straw
each 
cloying
coating
my throat

sour rubarb stalks gorged
one summer afternoon
heaving burning bile 
one summer midnight


tiny teaberries picked from the woods
sweet lilac blossoms picked from the shrubs
warm blackberries picked from the bushes
all dreamy and luscious 

an explosion of ink from a bic
the explosion of laughter that followed me out of the classroom

an iris leaf - a fresh savory bite with a toxic twist

I never listened
the hunger
the urge
the curiousity
too compelling 
to resist


Based on the prompt to write a poem that uses the form of a list to defamiliarize the mundane
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Monday, April 15, 2019

Coitus with Bill
April 15, 20191 Comments


To be
or
Not to be
that
is the question

or is it
Do
or
Do Not

for there is no 
try
whether it be nobler
or
not

to suffer
the attempts
we make 
to fool
ourselves
and
follow
all the same

to grunt
and sweat
under
a weary life

yet difficult to see
always in motion
this future
is

so
Soft
 you now

for all the world's a stage
and all the men 
and all the women
merely 
players


waiting for a curtain call....


NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 15
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Sunday, April 14, 2019

Readers
April 14, 20191 Comments


These cheap plastic
bretrayers
of
trips around the sun
offer 
a clear bright
view
of 
the distant
signs
yet 
blur 
everything
within
reach

If we were to keep 
one
within 
arms reach
would we 
find an
embrace
or
miss
that which is
further
from our
grasp?

Would we even
know
and
if 
not
would it even matter?

It is the edges
that crisp
and blaze
beyond
the 
rim

as if I never saw 
the bits
the points
the boundaries
before

Nerves
fray

the question
begs

to accept what is

or remove
the glasses
and drift
back
into
 the blur



NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 14

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Saturday, April 13, 2019

Hand-Holding
April 13, 20191 Comments

Photo Credit: Zero Equals Two



Hands hold
each other
palm to palm
open 
inviting

fingers
interlaced
intentions
weaved
as we walk
this way
for everyone
to see

hands
cloistered
in cotton
folds
hiding
the
emptiness
from sight

hands
hungry 
cupped
towards
passersby
who refuse
to see
their 
reflection
on the stained
sidewalk

I invite you
close your eyes
hold your hand
out
to your side
extend
each
finger
until
you 
feel
that 
cold
tingle

that my friend
is
death
wanting
to
hold
your
hand




Based on the prompt to write a poem about something mysterious or spooky 
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Friday, April 12, 2019

Power
April 12, 20190 Comments



If I were to look 
in my nethermost
 hallows

Would I find myself
in
chains
gyves
and
irons

offering up
my power
in open 
bleeding
palms

Bound to repeat
my contrition
with Sysiphean insistence
that it would somehow
be different?

or 
would I hasten 
the wise words
and grab hold
the broomstick
click my heels
three times

and say

I am enough
as I am

Enough!


NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 12

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Thursday, April 11, 2019

Berthillon
April 11, 20190 Comments

I wonder

while
watching
children
cluster
like
 gulls
at a beach
picnic

eager
impatient
insistent

wings
waving wildly

their ebullient laughter
echoing through cobbled passages

which flavor
will I choose?

caramel au beurre salé - a languorous kiss from an afternoon lover
chocolat noir - an enveloping, tantalizing secret
noix de coco - a promise of tropical respite

I want
to taste
Paris
summertime

the possibilities
pool
in my mind
and
drip
hot and sticky
down my chin


NaPoWriMo 2019  Day 11



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